Search results

Sort By:

Limit search:

Reassessment of the Putative Ciliate Fossils Eotintinnopsis, Wujiangella, and Yonyangella from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in China

100%

DUNTHORN M., Lipps J. H., STOECK T.

Acta Protozoologica

2010

vol. 49

issue 2

Three putative ciliate fossils were described from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in China: Eotintinnopsis, Wujiangella, and Yonyangella. The identity of these fossils is important for our understanding of the origins and early morphological evolution within ciliate clades. Here we compare the homology of the fossil characteristics with those in their proposed ciliate relatives. Eotintinnopsis resembles a tintinnid, but its feathery tentacle-like apical structure is probably not homologous within any known ciliate. Wujiangella presents homology issues with the size and distribution of its putative somatic cilia. Yonyangella appears to be a suctorian with its tentaclelike structures, but the presence and size of its putative somatic cilia pose homology issues. We suggest that these three fossils are likely to be taphonomically and diagenetically distorted and altered acritarchs. These alterations include secondary mineral encrustations on the interiors of vesicles, the crushing, folding and other distortions of the vesicles, the bending and crushing of the acritarch spines, and the preservation of organic material in and outside of the cysts. The earliest known ciliate fossil remains a tintinnid that occurs in the Ordovician of Kazakhstan.

Broad Taxon Sampling of Ciliates Using Mitochondrial Small Subunit Ribosomal DNA

88%

DUNTHORN M., HALL M., Foissner W., STOECK T., KATZ L. A.

Acta Protozoologica

2014

vol. 53

issue 2

Mitochondrial SSU-rDNA has been used recently to infer phylogenetic relationships among a few ciliates. Here, this locus is compared with nuclear SSU-rDNA for uncovering the deepest nodes in the ciliate tree of life using broad taxon sampling. Nuclear and mitochondrial SSU-rDNA reveal the same relationships for nodes well-supported in previously-published nuclear SSU-rDNA studies, although support for many nodes in the mitochondrial SSU-rDNA tree are low. Mitochondrial SSU-rDNA infers a monophyletic Colpodea with high node support only from Bayesian inference, and in the concatenated tree (nuclear plus mitochondrial SSU-rDNA) monophyly of the Colpodea is supported with moderate to high node support from maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. In the monophyletic Phyllopharyngea, the Suctoria is inferred to be sister to the Cyrtophora in the mitochondrial, nuclear, and concatenated SSU-rDNA trees with moderate to high node support from maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Together these data point to the power of adding mitochondrial SSU-rDNA as a standard locus for ciliate molecular phylogenetic inferences.

Refine search results

2 Acta Protozoologica

1 2014

1 2010

2 DUNTHORN M.

2 STOECK T.

1 Foissner W.

1 HALL M.

1 KATZ L. A.

1 Lipps J. H.

Search results

Reassessment of the Putative Ciliate Fossils Eotintinnopsis, Wujiangella, and Yonyangella from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in China

Broad Taxon Sampling of Ciliates Using Mitochondrial Small Subunit Ribosomal DNA